Friday, July 5, 2013

I had just parked my sparky blue i10 in the parking lot of my apartment. I was climbing the stairs leisurely to reach my house. Suddenly, a very familiar smell filled the air. I recognized the smell but was not able to identify it clearly. As I concentrated on the odor, I started feeling it and knew it was the nostalgic aroma of my grand mother’s home back in Bhubaneswar, Orissa. To be more specific, it resembled Mami’s (this is what I call my grand mom) bed room and more so of her saris. I don’t know how I could smell the same odor right here in Mumbai. With a smile, I reached home and started thinking. The more I thought, the increased urge I had to revisit the stairway. Spontaneously, I climbed down the stairs and sensed it again and yet again. Still, I couldn't get satisfied and wanted to be there at my grand parent’s place. However, I had no option but to go back home.

As I lied down on my bed, a series of sweet memories played in my mind. I recalled how we used to visit the Sahidnagar home of my grand parents every single day after school. Homework would be completed and we would speed away to Sahidnagar. It was our daily outing. All my cousins would be waiting for us to arrive and a game would start straightaway. We would indulge ourselves in games such as ‘house house’, ‘doctor doctor’, ‘chor police’, ‘running race’ and the list goes on. Then there would be a call from my grand mother to have food. I and my brother would relish the finger licking food served there, very conveniently ignoring my mother’s annoyance as we wasted the same food served at home. A loud burp of satisfaction from me would make Aja (my grand father) laugh and I would leave the dining table for yet another game. After a good nap resulting from the rice we would have had at lunch, all cousins would reunite and watch TV or play. Our vacations would be spent this way. There were also the frequent visits to the ‘Kandura Jharana’ park (meaning Crying Fountain Park) and other stop overs. By late evening, our Dad would drag Mom, Bhai and me to get back home which we used to do very hesitantly.

Now, I realize that those were the best days of my life. I wish I could relive my childhood days. Even now, when all cousins get together, we share the same bonding and feel good about it.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

The day starts with a very strong resolution to stay healthy and remain healthy for ever and ever. I get up early in the morning and check my weight right after the morning ablution with an entirely empty stomach. I instantly get shocked and want to throw away the bloody weighing machine. I hate myself the most at this stage. Thereafter I prepare myself and set my mind to eat right and exercise. This goes on day after day. After repeated attempts to succeed which results only in failure, my husband and me get ourselves enrolled in a gym nearby. We thought it is enough to keep us motivated. So, we start hitting the gym along with an everyday attempt of trying to eat right. The attempt starts every morning, is almost overcome during the noon and actually ends by the night. The very next morning, the stupid weighing machine makes me feel guilty. I want to blame everyone around me for my weight. Why did God create people who eat and eat but do not put on at all? Why is God being unfair to me? At the night, I make up my mind to change my life. I remind myself of what I believe in. Life is what you make out of it. Hence, I promise myself to restart the next morning, to turn into a new leaf and to change for better.

Hey you may be thinking that this is an endless process, but wait and kindly hold on. I have done it in the past. I have lost a whole lot of stubborn pounds for my marriage. That’s different that I have gained some of it back. But, all over again I pledge to shed it off all. Now, don’t you dare think that this is going to be a cyclic process from morning till night. Well, this blog was to share my everyday guilt with you.

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Though my marriage doesn't let me be an Oriya, I am an Oriya by birth, by heart and will ever remain so. Also, this makes me an Oriya food lover. However, I do not get much of a chance to cook Oriya food at home as my hubby is fond of north Indian cuisine only. Now, it's a different thing that making north Indian food is a lot easier compared to Oriya food. :) :) Since some days or rather months, I was craving for it. Recently, one of my colleagues pointed me to a good Bengali restaurant. So, this Sunday, I somehow persuaded my husband to take me there for dinner. It was either for love, sacrifice or sympathy that my husband willingly took me there. I had accidentally burnt my hand in the afternoon while working in the kitchen. So, I assume that the sympathy would have come from there. Whatever the reason might be, I was super excited.

So, we landed at the restaurant called Iti. It was an orange and green themed restaurant which was quite nicely done. It looked so Bengali and so authentic. There was this nice Bengali music being played at the background. The waiters talked only in Bengali unless you ask them not to. There was the nostalgic aroma of fish which I still loved even though I had become a vegetarian. I felt I was close to home. At least, I liked the feeling of being in east India. I kept admiring the restaurant in my mind not daring to share it with my husband. Suddenly, a thought came to me out of jealousy or I don't know what. I thought, why not an Oriya restaurant with an Oriya theme. How about having postures of Sambalpuri and Odissi dance in the background and some carvings in clay too? Why not some Pipili hangings and Patachitra paintings? With typical Oriya food being served followed by our special Chenapoda sweet, it would literally be heaven on earth. I kept on imagining only to be pleasantly interrupted by the Bengali waiter. So my double egg roll had arrived. I liked it even though it was oily. My hubby had his paneer roll with utter distaste. It was followed by deserts such as raskadam and mishti dohi. I enjoyed both of them and my husband had no option but to eat it with dissatisfaction. While I liked the food, I didn't feel very happy about it as I felt I had dragged my hubby boy here. Then, I decided to close my eyes and just concentrate on the food I had been craving for. It felt awesome. Finally, I concluded that I would share my joy by writing a blog. All the foodies out there would definitely understand me. :) :) :) Isn't it?

I am a shopaholic by birth. Atleast, this is what I love to call myself. I believe shopping is the best therapy. Shop till you drop and cure all your problems is my motto. I spend more than half or rather my entire salary in shopping. I am such a spend thrift. But you know what, bad time comes for every one and I have seen the worst of my times. I shopped using my Dad’s money even when I was not working for a year. Now, I have to write a different blog or may be many different blogs to tell you why I was not working. That’s a different story altogether. To add to my jobless woes, I got married. I actually, really and desperately wanted to marry my long time sweet heart. But just few days before marriage, I was so very nervous. I seriously wanted to run away. However the tale of my marriage blues is apt for another blog. Let me come to the story of my shopping spree.

On a pleasant week day, my friends and I decided to leave early from office and indulge ourselves in shopping. We went to this mall nearby called the Raghuleela mall in Vashi. It is a shopping mall with branded stores as well as small non branded stores which sell typical clothes at reasonable prices. It gives the feel of street shopping inside a mall. You get all these funky stuffs under one roof. I stepped to a kurti shop with my friend. To add to my excitement, I saw a galore of kurtis with all kinds of colours and prints. I wanted to pick not one, not two but many of them. Alas, I was reminded that I am married and cannot spend or waste (as my husband would call it) all my money in shopping. Hesitantly, I picked just a single pair of kurti and leggings and walked out of the store. On the way back home, I became nostalgic of my life as a spinster. I wanted to go back to that life and be a free bird again. There were none to seek permission from and none to stop me from doing anything whatsoever. However, I loved my husband and today, life is what I have chosen. Anyway, back home I immediately put on my new kurti and discovered that it was a little loose. Then my friend Dipti’s advice came to my mind. She had told that it would shrink after one wash. I smiled and neatly kept it in my cupboard. After some days, I wore it to work and many of my colleagues liked it. I was satisfied and set it aside to wear after some days pass by. Yesterday, I had a haircut and wanted to wear something cute. My eyes instantaneously searched for the same polka dotted green kurti. I thought that will look the prettiest. I felt sudden love for my green kurti and put it on without any hesitance. Ofcourse, it did match my haircut as I had imagined.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

AWA is the essay section of the GMAT. It stands for Analytical writing assessment. It judges a student’s thinking ability and the way he is able to communicate it. There are two types of questions asked here – one is analysis of argument and other is analysis of issue. Analysis of issue asks you to give your opinion on the presented issue. You can either support it or go against it. Topics would generally be on business or political issues. It is good to use known facts in your essay. You have to show in your writing that you understand both sides of the issue and then support one. It tests how well balanced you are in your writing. Analysis of an argument questions offers an argument on an issue. You are required to analyze the argument given from the issue. You have to decide how well the argument is reasoned. You can either strengthen the argument or weaken it. You need to find out mistakes or support it along with evidence. Each of this part is of 30 minutes. You are scored from 1 to 6 in this part. A score above 5 is considered a good score. You receive your score along with the GMAT score. Your essay is graded by a human and also by a computerized grader. If both the graders do not agree, your essay is graded by another human.

AWA is the most ignored section of the GMAT. It is taken very casually by most of the students. Aspirants concentrate on verbal and aptitude part but end up completely overlooking the AWA section which is also important. Generally, it is assumed that if one has a decent knowledge of the English language, AWA is not a big deal for him. It certainly helps if you are well versed with English or if you are good at writing. However, you cannot afford to ignore this part. You need to know certain tactics and strategies to master the AWA. There is a method of preparation for every section.

Now, one method to prepare for AWA is to practice sample essays and previous GMAT essays. This has to be done anyway. In addition to this, I would suggest to read newspapers and magazines daily. There are review columns appearing in the editorial section of the newspaper. It is very important to read them thoroughly and write an issue essay and an argument essay based on it. You should use proper structure in your essays and your paragraphs must be connected. For instance, your idea stated in the last paragraph must be used to begin the next paragraph so that the link is formed. If you practice this daily along with sample essays, you will definitely score above 5.5 in your AWA section. You can at least devote twice a week towards your AWA section. You should have practiced more than 30 essays before the day of your GMAT. A score of 4 out of 6 is considered a decent score and obviously you should be able to score that much at the minimum.